Oh, Snap! Reid orders Dems to Shut Up Cornyn -- and all Republicans!

Sen. John Cornyn was some kind of ticked off yesterday -- there he was asking for additional time to speak when - gasp - the only senator in the chamber, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, who was the presiding officer, objected. No one remembers that ever happening and a few minutes later, a still ticked off Cornyn tried again. And Begich objected - again! When Cornyn pointed out the obvious, that no one else was waiting to speak, Begich relented. What gives? Well, another major league ticked off senator, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-N.V., tired of GOP delaying tactics on the health care reform bill -- sitting through the reading of Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt. amendment stands out -- ordered the presiding officers, who are Democrats, to block any move by Republicans, however routine, to use more Senate time. The same thing happened to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who has been a thorn in the side of Democrats on health care, who was objected down by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., when he was the presiding officer. Lieberman actually laughed. An incensed Sen. John McCain said he's never seen anything like it - Sen. Carl Levin,D-Mich., said, oh, yeah, it happened to Cornyn. Reid told members they get 10 minutes, and 10 minutes it is! -- Maria Recio

Comments

[shermrob]

McCain complained about Franken shutting down Lieberman but McCain did the same thing to a Democrat not too long ago!

[Suzanne Perry-Coomes]

Cornyn should not sit down and shut up. The Brownshirt Socialist-Democrats are determined to wreck what is left of our country and its Constitution. Granted, Cornyn is usually way too RINO for my taste, but for once he is doing what his constituents tell him to do: Don't let this travesty pass!

[Fred G.]

Cornyn was not trying to debate anything, he just wanted to delay the vote. Repubs have done the same thing to Dems in the past. Go read about the Kennedale teen with cancer and the $250K bill his mother has to pay for his cancer treatment not covered by his for-profit insurance company. Private insurance companies are greedy parasites. We NEED reform and more of it!

[Andrew "Cas" Castanuela]

The reality is that bill is unconstitutional and I am glad to see our Attorney Generals and others fighting this bill. My major concern with the leadership who passed this legislation knows that it is unconstitutional but knowingly still pass it. If they don't know what the constitution says then they should not be in office. They should along with the President be disqualified for office for "high crimes and misdemeanors". The President is first and foremost protector and defender of our constitution and if he knowingly violates it then he violates his oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. He should then face the constitutional consequences for his actions along with any other Congressperson who supports it.

Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution reads: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States”.

The Senate Bill that was passed showed favoritism towards certain states as it relates towards reimbursement for Medicaid tax exemptions. This is not “uniform throughout the United States”. Congress cannot collect tax revenue from one state to help pay for another state's deficits. This has been done repeatedly in the past but until now has not been challenged. The same argument can be made about the financial bail out in which Congress used tax payer money to support the economy of one state versus other states.

Americans want health care reform but not in the form of the national government taking over health care but in the form of health care legislation as it applies to prevent discrimination on prior existing conditions, premiums, medical billing fraud, and abuse of Medicaid point of service.

CAS